The University of California filed suit Friday, Sept. 8, against the Trump administration over the president’s executive order to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA.

UC President Janet Napolitano created the DACA program when she served as Secretary of Homeland Security during the Obama administration. In a press conference Friday, Napolitano said the action by President Donald Trump violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires public comment on policy changes, and due process, as defined under the Fifth Amendment.

Napolitano called the administration’s action on DACA “the opposite of reasoned decision making,” adding that it was “inconsistent with the law, inconsistent with immigration policy and inconsistent with our values.”

She said the attempt to kill a program she created cuts close to home.

“On a personal basis, yes, I have a keen interest in DACA,” she said, “but my interest lies with the young people whose futures are being put in doubt.”

There are 4,000 undocumented students attending school in the University of California system, Napolitano said, many of whom are part of the DACA program. She said there are also a number of staff members with DACA status.

“We see the exceptional contributions that young dreamers make every day,” she said. “They really represent the spirit of the American dream. By its action, the administration has dashed those dreams. We hope by this lawsuit to restore those dreams.”

The lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of California against the Department of Homeland Security and its acting secretary, Elaine Duke. It asks the court to set aside Trump’s rescission of the program.

The lawsuit is the first to be filed against Trump’s action by a university. Napolitano said she hoped others would follow. She also hopes Congress will pass legislation to address the issue and said she has sent letters to congressional leaders.

“My message to Congress is that they should get to it,” Napolitano said. “They should put DACA into statute and provide permanency here.”

Trump’s action on DACA was not the only move by his administration to shake up the higher education community. On Thursday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called for changes in Title IX guidelines that affect the way colleges and universities handle cases of sexual assault.

Lawyers and advocates for students accused of sexual assault applauded DeVos’ speech, but few others were pleased by her critique of a system which, she said, “does a disservice to everyone involved.”

Cristina Martin, Title IX director at Cal State San Bernardino, said she thinks DeVos mischaracterized the current program and worries that protections for students who have been assaulted might be compromised.

In her speech, DeVos highlighted incidents where she said sexual assault survivors or those accused of sexual assault had not been well served by the system. Advocates said her examples all involve violations of federal guidelines, rather than unclear standards. Martin said the incidents are exceptions, not the rule, adding that DeVos handpicked incidents of “very bad decision making.”

“Not all Title IX offices have (such) bad judgment,” she said.

In 2011, in the wake of publicized incidents of colleges and universities failing to adequately deal with victims of sexual assault, the Obama administration issued a Dear Colleagues letter outlining a new set of guidelines for addressing sexual assault complaints and how to handle the cases.

Both the University of California and California State University systems implemented programs that provided more support for those who had been sexually assaulted and separated the adjudication process, making it more independent from the university chain of command.

Advocates for those accused of such crimes have complained that the guidelines only require a preponderance of evidence to take action against a student, rather than proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Martin said the preponderance of evidence is a typical standard for university actions. The schools, she said, are not courts of law and taking action there is an alternative to a court proceeding, which may or may not even be possible.

“Many DAs will not take these cases because there are no witnesses,” other than the parties involved, she said. “Victims (often) feel like, ‘What’s the point?’ (DeVos) may raise the standard to beyond a reasonable doubt and that will be difficult for students to hear.”

It’s important that the accused be treated fairly, she said. But she believes the system at Cal State provides that. Copies of the complaint and any orders are provided to both parties and both are given an advocate to help them in the process.

UC Riverside professor Yolanda Moses, who oversaw the university’s Title IX program for many years, said providing greater protections to those accused of sexual assault would discourage victims from coming forward. She said she doesn’t think DeVos has a good grasp of the issue.

“I don’t think she gets it,” Moses said. “The thing that bothers me the most is she’s proposing to change policy based on anecdotes on what is happening on some campuses.”

Instead, she said, DeVos should be looking at data. But she’s not sure that’s the point.

“It’s political pushback on something that was started by the Obama administration,” she said. “Anything with Obama’s name on it is called a failure, whether it’s a failure or not.”

Mark Muckenfuss has been a reporter since 1981. He worked at various publications including the San Bernardino Sun before coming to the Press Enterprise in 1999. He covers higher education, military affairs and, when the ground shakes, earthquakes.

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